Family Fun Events and Activities

Kelly Blumenthal is a long time Mom Mapper and an advocate for finding the best places for the family when traveling. As both a parent and artist, she has made paintings for the Breast Cancer Auction – Komen Foundation. This past summer Kelly and her family visited the Gulf Coast region. She has been kind enough to write a blog about this amazing place.

Families from the Mid-south flock to the cooler breezes of the Gulf Coast Region in the summertime. The refreshing salt air, leisurely pace, and family togetherness make a win-win for travelers.

From the Fort Morgan Peninsula to Pensacola, this region offers a variety of activities for serious beach goers to families who like experiential travel.

You can take excursions to beach trails in a variety of habitats, or enjoy touristy fun in Gulf Shores. My tween, teen, and techie husband enjoyed the mix of beach time and excursions. Whether we were searching for Ghost crabs at night, or using a fishing net to study the fish swimming under our feet, all provided hours of fun. Here are some of our favorite places to visit:

Mobile Bay Ferry – Noted as “the Gulf-Coast’s most scenic drive”: Ferries run across Mobile Bay connecting the Fort Morgan Peninsula and Dauphine Island. The trip is about 40 minutes. The ferry is great for bird watching and dolphin spotting.

Fort Morgan, Alabama: If you are history buffs or have children that enjoy studying the American Civil War, this is a must see. Located on the tip of the Fort Morgan Peninsula, across from the ferry port. Fort Morgan is a historical settlement with original buildings. You can explore the large fortifications, bunkers, and tunnels. They have an excellent gift shop and museum building on site, as well.

Fort Morgan

Dauphine Island, Estuarium at the Dauphine Island Sea Lab: A research based museum featuring the unique wildlife of this estuary habitat. Experience films, exhibits, and hands on stations with sea creatures. Complete the visit thru a salt marsh via a stroll on the boardwalk outside.

Lulu’s Restaurant at Homeport Marina, Gulf Shores: Situated by a marina and is a complex with restaurants, live music, hula hoops, and balls in large sandy outdoor play area. It is also a farm to table restaurant, started by Lulu Buffet, the sister of musician Jimmy Buffet. There is the Mountain of Youth, a four level climbing extravaganza for kids. It spoke to their inner pirate. You can even walk the plank, at the very top, if brave enough.

Climbing structure

Gulf Shores Park: Recommended as a must see by locals. This is a system of greenways connecting Orange Beach & Gulf Shores to the beautiful GulfShoresPark. It is a wonderful trail system to bike ride as a family. Choose from 14 miles of paved paths in 6 different ecosystems. We took the RosemaryDuneTrail which leads to a Butterfly Garden and Boulder Park, a climbing rock play area. The path is flanked by a pine forest. The trail passes through an alligator viewing swamp. We encountered vibrant dragon flies, a gopher tortoise, and butterflies.

Gulf Coast Back Country Trail

Sea & Suds, Gulf Shore, AL: A family tradition for many years. A cozy yet open eatery built over the water. Pure and simple, with friendly service. The kids will be entertained by walking on the giant decks that encapsulate the restaurant. Sit at the oyster bar and enjoy watching the oyster shucking, first hand.

Lillian’s Pan Pizza, Perdido Key, FL: A pizza restaurant that serves a wide variety of delicious pizzas in addition to pastas, Italian specialities, salads, sandwiches, and desserts. Kids and adults will both be happy with the selections. An original restaurant enjoyed both by locals and tourists.

Visit the National Naval Aviation Museum, Pensacola, Florida: A FREE 350,000 SQ FT museum of exhibit space. Visit this historical museum if you have time, or make it your number one priority. Spend a morning or afternoon here, exploring many facets of aviation history. There is also a space exhibit and a restaurant on premises if you need to refuel.

Most of all, make time to soak up the beach sand and waves. On our last night, our family enjoyed studying the constellations. The stars shone bright, without the glare of city lights, and appeared limitless in their number and density.

A big thank you to Julissa Ortiz and the whole crew at Good Day Sacramento for inviting me to share Mom Maps on air last week. It was so exciting to see the enthusiastic response from local moms and dads. After the segment aired, Good Day Sacramento invited parents to share their favorite local kid-friendly places on their Facebook page. With more than 50 comments, we have been busy making sure everything gets mapped in Mom Maps so you can find these picks next time you make the trip to California’s capitol.

While in Sacramento, we had a great time visiting the ArtBeast Studio. What a fabulous place for kids to explore a whole range of classes and drop-in creative activities. If I lived in Sacramento, I know this would be a favorite for my family. Mom Mapper Shayla and her daughter Kali came along and took this great video. Little Kali even had the chance to make her very first painting! (And do check out Shayla’s blog, Me Turned Mom.)

Sacramento is just the latest city to be added to Mom Maps. We now support 27 metro areas and we’re adding more each week with the help of our growing community of moms and dads who love to share their favorite places for kid-friendly fun as well as the many parent bloggers and family travel experts who contribute to our app. It’s a truly collaborative effort. Together we’ve mapped more than 26,000 kid spots and captured thousands of reviews for parents, by parents. Mom Maps has come a long way since I created this app when my family moved to San Francisco and I was inspired to create a tool to find cool things to do with my two year old.

Thanks to the many Sacramento parents who provided their picks and feedback on their favorite kid spots…. and to you, for joining with me to create this great resource for families!

If, however, your family is up for braving the elements, this just might be the time to discover a new place to explore. Our community of mom and dad mappers has made it easy to find kid-friendly places for outdoor fun in your area and on the road. Browse the “Parks” and “Playground” categories on our iPhone Appor website, and you’re sure to find a great new family destination.

To add to the fun, we’ve compiled a list of some of our favorite links and resources for winter and cold weather activities. Now bundle up, get outside and play!

From The Grass Stain Guru: Try a fall color walk or check out some other ideas from her Fall Play video

Do you and your kids find yourselves climbing the walls when the weather gets rainy and cold? Getting the wiggles out while keeping your sanity in tact can be a tall order. So, we’ve compiled a list of fun, kid-friendly, indoor play places to run, climb and burn some energy — from Atlanta to Cinncinnati, Chicago, Seattle and points in between.

Recreation Outlet (Milford) – The folks at Recreation Outlet sell premium play equipment and have also created an indoor Play Zone where kids can run, jump and run in a showroom full of play structures, trampolines and basketball hoops. Check out their open play times or plan a birthday party.

Krohn Conservatory(Cincinnati) – Dream of sunnier days while perusing an acclaimed collection of more than 3,500 plant species from around the world.

Habitot(Berkeley, CA): Indoor play for infants through preschoolers. Drop in play, art studio, themed play areas. See Mom Mapper Shayla’s videofrom her visit to Habitot.

Peekadoodle Kids Club(San Francisco, CA): Classes for ages 0-5. Indoor play space features a Victorian house, a cable car, a grocer’s market, and a giant Golden Gate Bridge. A padded infant lounge and a cafe and boutique for mom and dad.

… and don’t forget about some of the everyday places that can offer entertainment when the weather gets grim. Libraries get crowded on rainy days, but are free and fun.

And while shopping at our local IKEA recently, my 3 year old had a blast checking out the room vignettes, trying out ALL the chairs and testing out the kids toys scattered throughout the store. (They also have a supervised play area for preschoolers and older, where kids can play while you shop.) A nonfat vanilla frozen yogurt to cap off the visit, made for one happy camper!IKEA store finder.

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Looking for more kid-friendly fun from parks, to playgrounds, museums to indoor play places and restaurants? Kids Play Guide has got you covered rain or shine! Click over to www.kidsplayguide.com and browse our growing list of more than 25,000 kid spots or take Mom Maps on the go with our iPhone app. It’s quick and easy to map and review your own favorites, too.

So how did we find the more than 24,000 kid-friendly places mapped in our Mom Maps iPhone app? We’ve been building a vibrant community of parent Mappers who love to share their favorite picks and places for outdoor and indoor play, learning places, family dining and more. We’d like to introduce you to Road Trips for Families, and in particular, their “Feed Me” and “Geocaching” editor, Julie Henning. Julie is also the creator of the the very handy Milwaukee Love Kids and Madison Loves Kids iPhone apps.

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Road Trips for Families brings you travel information and advice from real families who love to hit the road every chance they get. It’s a great resource for planning your next family road trip because you’ll find expert itineraries, information on what’s along the way, gadgets — plus a whole lot more. Julie’s specialty is dining out with kids — and as a mother of three she can appreciate that this is no small task, especially when you’re on the road. You need convenience, clean bathrooms, and a place to burn off energy—not to mention prices that don’t break your travel budget on the first day. Julie loves to venture little off the beaten path to find and share unique, family-friendly restaurants that feed your appetite and your sense of adventure . She’s also a great resource for geocaching, “the nation’s high-tech treasure hunt”.

We’re proud to team up with Julie Henning and Road Trips for Families to map some of their favorite roadside attractions and kid-friendly destinations. So now you can take Road Trips for Families’ kid-friendly travel picks and recommendations “on the go” using the Mom Maps iPhone app (or browse online at www.kidsplayguide.com.)

If you have a budding Einstein at home, or just love to learn about the world around you, here are some of our favorite kid-friendly places, mobile apps and other cool resources that will appeal to the scientist in us all.

20 of Our Favorite Kid-Friendly Places for Hands-On Science – Browse these and lots more kid-friendly places for fun and learning online at Kids Play Guide or take it “on the go” with our Mom Maps iPhone app. Check out reviews from other parents and share your own.

Monterey Bay Aquarium(Monterey, CA): one of the country’s best aquariums. Check out 200 exhibits, including majestic jellyfish, 2-story kelp forest and local sea otters — all in the heart of Monterey’s historic Cannery Row

Do you love Halloween as much as we do? We’ve been mapping kid-freindly places for Halloween and fall fun which you can browse atwww.kidsplayguide.com or take on the go using the Mom Maps iPhone app. We’ve also been scouring the web for the handiest links and resources, our essential reading list for parents, to give you a leg up on your Halloween planning.

First up, check out our own Kids Play Guide round up “Parents Pick: Favorite Pumpkin Patches and Places for Halloween Fun“ covering the San Francisco Bay Area, Portland-Seattle, Chicago, and Washington DC. Next check out these other great links for events, activities and crafts, last minute costumes, safety tips and other general spookiness.

Fall is in the air. While we’re sad to say goodbye to summer, we’re looking forward to cozy sweaters, autumn leaves, hot chocolate and probably our favorite of all — some good old fashioned Halloween fun. Of course Halloween wouldn’t be complete without a visit to a pumpkin patch. From simple pumpkin fields to elaborate corn mazes and festivals, here’s a round up of some of our favorite pumpkin patches.

Peterson’s Farm Pumpkin Patch (Petaluma) – Rated in the top 5 best pumpkin patches in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2010. Praised as a good place to take small children for pumpkin picking for pumpkin picking by the Marin Mommies’ site.

Kids Play Guide was created by a San Francisco mom to help parents share and review their favorite places for kid-friendly fun. Our great community of parents and family travel experts have mapped more than 24,000 parks and playgrounds, indoors play places, museums and kid-friendly restaurants across the US.

So how did we find the more than 24,000 kid-friendly places mapped in our Mom Maps iPhone app? We’ve been building a vibrant community of parent Mappers who love to share their favorite picks and places for outdoor and indoor play, learning places, family dining and more. We’d like to introduce you to Fun Orange County Parks and Michele Whiteaker. She’s a KaBOOM.org Playmaker and self-proclaimed playground blogger who considers it her community service to share the scoop on outdoor play in Orange County.

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We love Fun Orange County Parks! It’s an incredible resource for outdoor play covering playgrounds and parks from Anaheim to Fullerton, Newport Beach San Clemente and everywhere in between. The best part is that the the information comes straight from parents who live and play in Orange County . What we also love about the site are the sections that feature ideas for nature-based play, kids activities, and family road trips — and even some music playlists to keep you going. You won’t want to miss the “Super Search” section where you’ll find handpicked lists in categories ranging from Park Birthdays, to Sand-Free Parks, Water (Puddles), and Beat the Heat.

We’re thrilled to team up with Fun Orange County Parks to enable you to browse hundreds of their Orange County park and playground recommendations and photos on-the-go using our Mom Maps iPhone app.

Now get out there and play!

Follow Fun Orange County Parks

www.funorangecountyparks.com

@OCPlayParks (on twitter)

Facebook: Fun Orange County Parks

If you’re a Twitter fan you may also want to check out the great hastag “#playoutdoors” where you can get your daily dose of links and resources for outdoor play culled from around the Twitter-sphere.

Mom Mapper Julie Henning, Feed Me and Geocaching Editor for Road trips for Familiesand expert on kid-friendly Milwaukee and Madison, brings us a great kid-friendly spot for the whole family in Louisville, KY. Waterfront Parkis a relatively new addition to Louisville — an 85 acre park that unites the waterfront along the Ohio River with the city. Think multiple playgrounds (with water play area in summer), picnic areas, walking trails, expansive lawns, outdoor concerts and events, and river views. Whether you’re out for a day at the playground, kicking the ball, going for run or just taking time to stop and smell the flowers, there’s something for everyone. Julie and her family give this one a thumbs up!